Game theoretic enterprise management in industrial collaborative networks with multi-agent systems

Virtual Enterprise (VE) is a temporary alliance of enterprises that come together in order to better respond to cope with demand of customers. VE includes many kinds of business models in term of supply chain, such as vertical structure, horizontal structure and so on. In this study, we focus on the negotiation process in VE, and try to apply multi-agent paradigm with marketing science and game theoretic approach as its decision making mechanism in order to analyse the characteristics of several business models. We propose VE simulation models to analyse the forming dynamism of VE amongst several potential members in the negotiation domain, and finally clarify the performance of VE based business models.

This paper offers a service-oriented architecture (SOA) for ontology-based multi-agent system (MAS) negotiations in the context of virtual enterprises (VEs). The objective of this paper is fourfold. First, it is to design a SOA which utilizes ontology and MAS to provide a distributed and interoperable environment for automated negotiations in VE. In this architecture, individual ontologies for both the VE initiator and its potential partners are constructed to describe and store resources and service knowledge. Second, a series of semantic ontology matching methods are developed to reach agents' interoperability during the negotiation process. Third, correspondence-based extended contract net protocol is presented, which provides basic guidelines for agents' reaching mutual understandings and service negotiation. Last, a fuzzy set theory based knowledge reuse approach is proposed to evaluate the current negotiation behaviors of the VE partners. A walkthrough example is presented to illustrate the methodologies and system architecture proposed in this paper.

When it comes to modeling social life, few paradigms are more suitable than multi-agent systems (MASs). MASs have helped gain a deeper understanding of countless social phenomena (through agent-based social simulation) that were hard to study using analytical approaches. More recently, MASs have evolved into handy assistants to the human users they can act on behalf of. One example of such use of MASs is in implementing virtual enterprises (VEs), i.e. temporary alliances of geographically distributed organizations created in order to exploit a specific business opportunity. Competition, negociation and cooperation mechanisms are usually copresent in the creation and operation of VEs, with individual members being simultaneously autonomous self-interested entities and parts of a larger whole, the benefits of which they are also trying to maximize. In turn, VEs have application areas such as commerce, manufacturing, and tourism, offering important contributions to the universal contemporary strife to obtain customer-driven products while optimizing time, costs, and quality. In this chapter, we aim to review the most important applications of MASs in social sciences, with a focus on VEs as a special case.

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss hybrid organizations whose business models blur the boundary between for-profit and nonprofit worlds. With the aim of understanding how hybrid organizations have developed commercially viable business models to create positive social and environmental change, the authors contend that hybrids are altering long-held business norms and conceptions of the role of the corporation in society. Building on an analysis of the most updated literature on hybrid organizations and with the use of case study approach, the purpose of this paper is to derive managerial lessons that traditional businesses may apply to innovate their business models.Design/methodology/approachThis paper has a practical focus to help organizations to develop successful business strategies and design innovative business models. It applies emerging thinking on hybrid business models to provide new insights and ideas on the use of business models as tools for innovating and delivering value. To comply with this, first, the authors discuss the distinctive characteristics of hybrids and the hybrid business model through a concise but comprehensive review of all the literature on hybrid organization, which is still very recent. Second, we relied on a short case study that introduces information technology and digital innovation as the premises of the emergence of a new hybrid business model that adds additional elements to traditional business managers on how to learn from hybrid organizations’ avenues to innovate their business models.FindingsIn this paper, the authors aimed to shed light on the management of any organization or initiative that aims to embrace multiple and competing yet potentially synergistic goals, as is increasingly the case in modern corporations. Spotting hidden complementarities of antagonistic assets can be arduous, time-consuming, costly and risky, but businesses driven by innovation may want to keep a close eye on the expanding hybrid sector as a source of future entrepreneurial opportunities. To this regard, hybrid social ventures have the potential to shed light on ways to innovate traditional business models. The essence of studying hybrids is that firms may learn how to innovate their business models in ways that go beyond current conceptualizations, making their mission profitable, rather than making profit their only mission! The research design (literature analysis and case study) allowed the authors to disentangle different innovative business models that hybrids suggest highlight strengths and weaknesses of such business models, understand strategies and capabilities associated with hybrids and transpose all these lessons learned to traditional business managers who constantly struggle for innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThe main implication is that hybrid organizations may serve as incubators for new practices that can gain scale and impact by infusion into existing corporations. The authors can assist to a process of “hybridization” of incumbent firms, pushing the boundaries of corporate sustainability efforts toward strategies in which profit and social purpose share more equal footing.Practical implicationsFirms interested in benefiting from antagonistic assets that can have a dramatic impact on their business model innovation may want to consider some lessons: firms can attempt to build antagonistic assets into their mission, asking themselves what activities they can undertake with the potential to create (or erode) social, environmental and economic value and how these activities might be mediated by the context/environment in which they operate; they can partner with hybrids to benefit from them and absorb competencies from them, so to increase their likelihood to generate value-creating activities and to impact on wider range of stakeholders, including funders, partners, beneficiaries and communities; they can mimic hybrids on how to innovate their business model through the use of the “deliberate resource misfit” dynamic capability, mitigating negative impacts and trade-offs and maximizing positive value spillovers, both for the firms themselves and for the community.Social implicationsSharing know-how with hybrids opens up to ways to innovate business models, and hybrids are much more open to sharing lessons and encouraging others to copy their approaches in a genuine open innovation approach.Originality/valueThe main lesson businesses can take away from studying hybrids is that antagonistic assets – and not only profitable complementary ones, as the resource-based view would suggest – do not have to be a burden on profits. Hybrids ground their strategy first and foremost on their beneficiaries, thus dealing with a bundle of antagonistic assets. The primary objective of hybrids is thus to find imaginative ways of generating profits from their given resources rather than acquiring the resources that generate the highest profit. Profit is the ultimate goal of traditional businesses’ mission, but by making profit their only mission, firms risk missing out on the hidden opportunities latent in antagonistic assets. Learning from hybrids about how to align profits and societal impact may be a driver of long-term competitive advantage.

There is a growing recognition that current manufacturing enterprises must be agile, that is, capable of operating profitably in a competitive environment of continuously changing customer demands. The use of a virtual enterprise (VE) is becoming increasingly prevalent, and that has been made possible, in part, due to the significant advances in communication and information technology in recent years. A manufacturing system is one of the competitive factors that forms an effective VE. Therefore, for manufacturers wishing to obtain a contract in VE, it is crucial to present attractive and competitive offers to other coalition members. There are several criteria to these offers, such as cycle time, fulfilment of due date or quick shipping date, cost, and quality assurance for the ordered products. Manufacturing system simulation could endorse the basic estimates of the criteria for the strategic offer. The distributed simulation model concept provides practical solutions to facilitate such a large-scaled precise simulation model in the VE environment, because it is constructed as the integration of several manufacturing simulation models of each production module in the factory. As a solution to realize this integration, we propose a Distributed Virtual Factory (DVF) concept that consists of distributed precise simulation models connected by several synchronization mechanisms named Time Bucket algorithms. A DVF enables precise evaluations of the whole manufacturing system, especially in terms of the material flows. In this study, we introduce an Activity Based Costing (ABC) method into the DVF architecture to estimate the detailed cost analysis of the products. The methodology facilitates strategic enterprise management to prepare the request for the bids in the VE environment. The effectiveness of the proposed concept in agile manufacturing is discussed with simulation experiments.

Research and commercial efforts are currently addressing challenges and providing solutions in cloud computing. Business models are emerging to address different use case scenarios of cloud computing. In this paper, we present the evaluation of a virtual enterprise (VE)-enabled cloud enterprise architecture for small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) against EC2 pricing model to prove that our pricing model is more suitable for small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). This model is based on the realization that it is not economically viable for SMMEs to acquire their own private cloud infrastructure or even subscribe to public cloud services as a single entity. In our VE-enabled cloud enterprise architecture for SMMEs, temporary co-operations are created to realize the value of a short term business opportunity that the partner SMMEs cannot (or can, but only to a lesser extent) capture on their own. The pricing model obtained from our proposed business model shows the benefits that are derived from using the VE cloud model over subscription to a public cloud as a single business enterprise. The pricing structure of our VE cloud model is up to 17.82 times economical compared to the equivalent Amazon EC2 instance type pricing model.

New advancements in computers and information technologies have yielded novel ideas to create more effective virtual collaboration platforms for multiple enterprises. Virtual enterprise (VE) is a collaboration model between multiple independent business partners in a value chain and is particularly suited to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The most challenging problem in implementing VE systems is ineffcient and inflexible data storage and management techniques for VE systems. In this research, an ontology-based multi-agent virtual enterprise (OMAVE) system is proposed to help SMEs shift from the classical trend of manufacturing part pieces to producing high-value-added, high-tech, innovative products. OMAVE targets improvement in the flexibility of VE business processes in order to enhance integration with available enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The architecture of OMAVE supports the requisite flexibility and enhances the reusability of the data and knowledge created in a VE system. In this article, a detailed description of system features along with the rule-based reasoning and decision support capabilities of OMAVE system are presented. To test and verify the functionality and operation of this system, a sample product was manufactured using OMAVE applications and tools with the contribution of three SMEs.

Benefits of using hybrid business models within a supply chain

There is a growing recognition that current manufacturing enterprises must be agile, and the use of virtual enterprise (VE) is becoming increasingly prevalent in recent years. It is a very important and difficult activity in forming a virtual enterprise to select appropriate business partners, because each enterprise considers not only pursuing its profit but also sharing the risk to join the virtual enterprise. At first we propose a VE coalition algorithm based on multi-agent paradigm. Then we develop a computer simulation model to evaluate the proposed method by forming a virtual enterprise through multiple negotiations amongst several potential members in the negotiation domain. Finally, we clarify the coalition dynamism with the negotiation process. The effectiveness of the proposed concept in the agile manufacturing is discussed with several simulation experiments.

Virtual enterprise is the outcome of fierce competition in the world market. The selection of partners is one of the key factors for the success of virtual enterprises. Multi-agent system is an incompact agent federation composed of many agents, with its characteristics identical to virtual enterprises. It is, therefore, reasonable and effective to apply to the selection of enterprises' partner. The issue of trust is a hot topic in multi-agent system. The present trust model cannot well solve the problem of identifying the initial trust value of applicant agents. Moreover, there is room for improvement as to the calculation of agent trust value. This study puts forward a new trust management model based on multi-agent system. In the model, a fuzzy algorithm is used to calculate the initial value of the agent instead of a static definition. In addition, an independent validation module is used to test information reliability. Therefore, the problems of identifying initial trust value can be solved. Through system simulation, it is noted that based on the trust management model the cooperation rate has been enhanced and individual agent's income has risen by a big margin.

Collaborative commerce (c‐commerce) is a strategy for the next stage of electronic business (e‐business) evolution. C‐commerce business practices enable trading partners to create, manage, and use data in a shared environment to design, build, and support products throughout their life cycles, working separately to leverage their core competencies together in a value chain that forms a virtual enterprise. The hallmark of c‐commerce architecture is the integration hub, which is the e‐business platform that facilitates the sharing of information between trading partners as either a private trading exchange or public e‐marketplace. Integration hub messaging services, such as inventory visibility, event notification, and performance measurement, provides the fundamental enabling technology for real‐time decision making in a virtual enterprise. C‐commerce strategies are being built around collaborative product commerce (CPC) and collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) business models. While CPC scenarios are most prevalent in the industrial products sector for build‐to‐order solutions, CPFR was created to solve supply chain problems in the consumer packaged goods market space. The e‐business transformation that is being realized via c‐commerce can be described in terms of management decision making processes that leverage feedback using real‐time information throughout the value chain. The two key adaptive strategic planning processes are: building the virtual enterprise infrastructure using integration hubs and making decisions to optimize value chain business performance. As c‐commerce evolves as the mainstream e‐business strategy for effective value chain management, the reengineering of management decision making processes becomes the critical success factor for enterprise profitability and growth in the 21st century.

본 논문은 선행연구가 척박했던 국내 물류산업의 대표적인 O2O비즈니스모델인 화물정보망 비즈니스모델의 유형분류, 구조분석 등을 연구하고 유형별 비즈니스모델의 한계와 이를 보완 및 개선할 수 있는 발전방향을 제시하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 연구목적을 달성하기 위하여 국내 화물정보망사업의 내외적 환경에 부합하는 사례조사, 산업체의 1차 및 2차 자료조사, 화물정보망산업의 3객체인 차주, 화주, 화물정보망 운영사의 임직원 대상의 전문가의견조사, 국내외의 선행논문의 고찰을 통하여 다음과 같은 연구결과를 얻었다. 첫째, 화물정보망사업은 배차 태동기인 초기형태를 포함하여 4개의 변화기를 거쳐 현재와 같은 온라인 플랫폼을 기반으로 하는 스마트폰 어플리케이션 버전의 O2O 단계로 발전하였다. 둘째, 화물정보망사업의 비즈니스모델은 화물정보망 운영사의 업의 개념을 기준으로 수익중심형 비즈니스모델, 서비스중심형비즈니스모델, 지원중심형 비즈니스모델 등 3가지로 분류할 수 있다. 셋째, 비즈니스모델의 구조적 특징은 화물정보망 운영사가 온라인 플랫폼을 제공하여 주선사중심의 화주회원과 차주중심의 기사회원 간 화차(貨車)를 중개하는 구조, 화물운송가맹망사업자가 가맹본부가 되어 자사가 화주와 계약을 통하여 운송을 위탁받은 화물처리를 위하여 오프라인에서 계약한 가맹점에게만 화물을 제공하는 구조, 대(對) 정부 및 상급단체 대상의 권익을 대변하는 전국화물자동차 운송주선사업연합회와 같은 단체가 자기단체의 회원사를 지원하기 위한 목적으로 회원사의 화물이나 차량을 중개하는 구조적 특징을 보여주고 있다. 넷째, 국내 화물정보망사업 비즈니스모델의 한계는 Osterwalder et al.이 제시한 고객세분화, 가치제안, 채널전략, 수익원, 핵심역량, 핵심파트너십, 핵심활동, 고객관계, 비용구조 등 핵심 9개 요소를 기준으로 분석하여 연구의 목적을 달성하였다.The goal of this paper is categorizing types of business models, studying the structure analysis and suggesting the limitation of each types of business models and plans for development to complement and improve this limitation in freight information network industry which has been lack of advance research. To achieve the goal of this research, we had data research that corresponds internal and external circumstances of domestic freight information network(FIN) industry, primary and secondary data research about industries, expert attitude research from the three players of FIN industry, the driver, the shipper and the employees of freight information network operating company, and studied domestic and foreign literature, and achieved the goal of this research, as following. First, FIN industry have developed to O2O stage which is the smart phone application version based on online platform nowadays through four stages including the early form, which is interval naissance period. Second, business models of FIN industry can be categorized into three, such as profit-centered business model, service-centered business model, support-centered business model according to the standard from the business concept about the work of the FIN industry. Third, there are four structural features of FIN industry, one structure is that FIN operating company offers online platform to intermediate trade the cargo and cargo-truck, another structure is that FIN operator become the franchiser, and offer freight only to franchisee, and the last structural feature is that organization public association of their rights toward the government and upper ranked organization bridge cargo or cargo-truck of their own membership companies for the purpose of support their membership companies of their own organization. Fourth, business model structure according to the nine-part elements suggested by Osterwalder, customer segments, value proposition, distribution channels, revenue streams, core capabilities, partner network, activity configuration, customer relationships, and cost structure, and achieved the goal of this research.

This chapter describes the use of software agents and Web Services to support the formation of Virtual Enterprises. The partners of a Virtual Enterprise are represented as software agents. The AGORA multi-agent architecture is used. The focus of this chapter is on the description of the services provided by each partner and the partner selection process. The concept of Agent Interaction Protocols is used to manage the interactions during the formation of the Virtual Enterprise. An implementation of the ideas and examples from industrial case studies are used for the validation of the approach and discussions. The use of Semantic Web technology and Web Services with multi-agent systems is discussed as the future directions for this work.

Due to the advent of knowledge-based economy and virtual enterprise business model, the enterprises get the knowledge not only from themselves but also from others. In order to support knowledge retrieval in virtual enterprises, the distributed case-based reasoning system (DCBRs) plays an important role for enabling knowledge-driven virtual enterprises. Hence, this paper aims to develop a mechanism for ontology-based distributed case-based reasoning using characteristic of ontology and a proposed multistage algorithm, to effectively support knowledge retrieval within the virtual enterprise environment. This study involves the following tasks: (i) designing an ontology-based distributed case-based reasoning architecture and procedure, (ii) developing techniques related to the ontology-based distributed case-based reasoning, and (iii) implementing an ontology-based distributed case-based reasoning mechanism. In developing techniques related to the ontology-based distributed case-based reasoning, which involves definition and representation of user query model, definition and representation of case model, definition and establishment of case index structure, and development of distributed case retrieval and case adaptation methods.

In an efficient Virtual Enterprise (VE), where all the partners, both sending and receiving messages have to lead to acceptable and meaningful agreements, it is necessary to have common standards (an interaction protocol to achieve deals, a language for describing the messages’ content and ontology for describing the domain’s knowledge). This paper introduces first the ForEV platform, implemented through a Multi-Agent System. This platform facilitates partners’ selection automatic process in the context of VE and includes a negotiation protocol through multi-criteria and distributed constraint formalisms, as well as a reinforcement learning algorithm. Then, Ontology-based Services are proposed to be integrated in ForEV architecture in order to help in the VE formation process. These services will make the platform more open, enabling the establishment of the negotiation process between agents with different ontologies although representing the same domain of knowledge. An Ontology-based Services Agent is the responsible for providing the Ontology-based Services and monitoring the whole agents interaction just in time, without needing of a previous and tedious complete ontology mapping process. In our architecture each agent (either market or enterprise) has its own architecture and functionalities (some developer will design and build the ontology with some tool and, later, the agent will access the generated file/database), which implies the heterogeneity of the all Multi-Agent System.